(09 Aug 2013)
Central to the growing dispute about the legality and value of the very extensive electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) is the secret federal court that approves the search warrants authorizing the NSA's world-wide efforts.
While the operations of both the NSA and the decisions of what is now incorrectly called the Federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court are highly classified, information about the backgrounds of the judges -- including their sentencing patterns over the past five years -- has just been released by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. Read the report at:

The sentencing information about named judges -- which compares each judge's record with those of his/her colleagues in their home districts -- was developed earlier this year using information TRAC obtained and analyzed. With the information in TRAC's report, you can obtain the median and average sentences the judges imposed for all the matters they handled. You can also drill down into details on specific program areas, such as those cases classified by the Justice Department as involving drugs or white collar crime violations.

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TRAC is self-supporting and depends on foundation grants, individual contributions and subscription fees for the funding needed to obtain, analyze and publish the data we collect on the activities of the US Federal government. To help support TRAC's ongoing efforts, go to: